Author's note: Howdy, ya'll! I reckon the time has come! ... For another one-shot!

This one's dedicated to Dirty98! He actually only asked for one specific scene, but I had a bit too much fun with it, so it's no longer a drabble. XD Just a full-blown one-shot. Oh well, I doubt anybody minds! More content, right?

Speaking of that particular scene... I was originally going to write it one way... but, after watching it online a few times (coz that's how I get my nerdy research), I realised it could be interpreted a completely different way.

After thinking about it, I realised I liked that version much better, so I ran with it. XP

Hope you like the end product!

Round the Bend

Utterly fed up, Buneary heaved a sigh to herself. Earlier, the group had all been about to have a commemorative photo taken, to celebrate Dawn being the one thousand and first customer of some people who'd been selling maps for this cave they were in. When the photo had been interrupted by a bunch of rolling graveler and golem, however, the group had gotten separated. Even now, Buneary couldn't find anyone. Heck, she couldn't even find a way out! It was dark and scary in here, and she hated it!

At some point, she'd run into Happiny, and that had been fine at the time - welcome, even! - but they'd been wandering around, lost, inside this stupid cave for ages now. Just where was everybody?! The map people hadn't been kidding when they'd called this place a maze...

It wasn't looking likely that Dawn would get to the pokémon centre in time to get her new pokétch application.

"(My feet huuuurt!)" Happiny whined as they walked. "(I'm tiiiired! When's naptiiiime?!)"

To make matters worse, Happiny was becoming a pain in the backside with her constant whining. Sure, she was fairly newly-hatched, but still. It was driving Buneary nuts with how much she was complaining. Especially since she'd even carried her at one point, but Happiny had been too heavy for her to do that for long. She'd been much, much easier to carry as an egg...

Buneary wouldn't lie, she couldn't wait to find literally anyone else in the group. She'd even take Croagunk, despite the fact that he didn't talk much and kind of creeped her out. Anything was better than Happiny right now.

She turned to the baby pokémon, weary. "(Just... hold on a bit longer, won't you?)" she asked as nicely as she could.

Happiny flailed her arms. "(Noooo! Want naptiiiime!)"

Buneary was pretty much at the end of her rope, but she was hanging in there. She had to be nice to the baby, after all.

As much as she wanted to just leave her here, that would be very irresponsible.

Sunlight! Finally, Buneary had found her way out of the cave and into the sunlight!

Happily, she hopped outside. Then she paused at the sight that greeted her. A pathway, surrounded by high stone walls. Where was she?

She looked up at one of the walls. Well, she had Bounce, so it would be easy enough to hop up onto one and take a look around. Mustering energy in her feet, she leapt high into the air, landing on top of the wall.

She stared in disbelief and horror at what she saw. Another maze?!

... Wait... unless this was the maze the map people had been talking about! Oh, well, that was just great. A maze, followed by another maze!

She looked around, trying to find anyone else in the area. She couldn't see the entire maze from here, but the parts she could see were barren of life. Just how big was this maze?!

Okay, well, one option was to hop along the walls until she found somebody. It was a solid plan. At least, it would have been, if she didn't have Happiny with her. She didn't fancy carrying her again, and it would be irresponsible to leave her behind. So that was a no-go.

Well... the other option was to just walk around the maze, she supposed. As much as she hated the idea. She was already fed up of walking, but now she had to do more walking! There was no way Dawn would be in time to get her application!

"(Where's Broooock?!)" Happiny whined. "(I'm tiiiired!)"

Buneary heaved a sigh, hopping down from the wall to land next to Happiny. "(Yes, I know,)" she replied, trying to stay calm, "(but we need to do some more walking, okay?)"

"(Noooo, I hate walkiiiing!)"

Buneary glanced away, lowering her voice to a grumbling mutter. "(Join the club...)"

Urgh, another fork in the road. This was the third one now. Buneary looked between the two paths, not having a clue which way was the correct way.

She still hadn't heard any voices, either. Which likely meant that she was still nowhere near any of her friends. Urrrgh, she was getting so fed up...

"(Alright,)" she said, picking a direction, "(let's go-)"

"(No!)" Happiny snapped. "(No more walking! Hate walking!)" She stomped her feet. "(Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it-!)"

Something snapped inside Buneary's head. She rounded on Happiny, furious. "(Alright, if you hate it so much, then stop following me!)"

Happiny fell backwards in shock. After a moment, she wiggled around angrily. "(Stupid! Mean! Jerk! Hate you, too!)"

"(Well, you know what?! Screw you, too! You've been nothing but a pain in my butt all day!)"

"(Hate you, hate you, hate you! Don't wanna walk with you! Wanna go back! Wanna go the other waaaay! Stupid, stupid, stupid-!)"

"(Fine then! You go the other way! See if I care!)"

"(Fine, I will, you stupid jerky jerk! Hate you!)"

Buneary turned away angrily. "(Fine! Screw you!)"

"(No, you!)"

Ignoring her, Buneary hopped away down one path. She didn't look behind her, but she could only assume that Happiny was going back the way they'd come. Probably to walk down one of the paths they hadn't taken before.

She huffed to herself. Well, good! Any longer with that stupid baby and she'd have gone insane!

She continued hopping down the path, happy to finally be free. After a few moments, though, her frown melted as guilt started to gnaw away at her. Had she gone too far? She'd told herself not to abandon Happiny, after all, but she'd gone and done just that.

A baby, recently hatched, wandering a huge maze all by herself.

... Hmm. Maybe that was rather irresponsible of her. Brock certainly wouldn't be happy if he ever found out she'd left his baby pokémon alone in here.

Ah, darn it.

She was just about to stop hopping and turn around when she felt something grab her paw. She paused, turning in surprise to look. Who...?

Her breath caught in her throat. "(Pikachu!)" she cried out happily.

Pikachu was here! Of all the people for her to find first, it was Pikachu! The guy she really liked! Maybe her luck really was turning around!

In a fit of joy, she leapt at him, hugging him tightly. She'd never been so happy to see another person! Especially since it was him!

He yelped in shock. After a moment, he sighed. "(Good to see you, too...)" he replied, sounding tired.

"(Hmm?)" Curious, she moved away. Only then did she notice he was carrying Happiny on his back. "(Oh! You picked up Happiny!)"

"(Yeah.)" He shifted the baby slightly, to make himself more comfortable. "(Couldn't have her wandering off. I dunno why you two were fighting, but...)"

Buneary's ear dipped slightly. "(Yeah, I... got a bit fed up of her. Sorry.)" She kicked the ground in shame. "(I shouldn't have walked away from her. I just... lost my temper with her... constant whining and... yeah.)"

Pikachu's gaze looked sympathetic, though disapproving at the same time. She faltered under it.

"(Sorry, Happiny...)" she continued. "(I... shouldn't have gotten so mad.)"

"(I'm sorry, too,)" Happiny replied. "(Don't hate you.)"

Buneary smiled.

Pikachu also smiled. "(Glad you two worked it out,)" he said. "(Come on, we better get going. Gotta find Ash and the others.)"

"(Yeah,)" Buneary replied, nodding. She paused. "(Wait, have you been alone this whole time?)"

"(Nah. I was with Ash earlier, but... for some reason, I lost him. Dunno where he went.)"

"(Oh. Then we'd better find him, huh?)" She eagerly grabbed his paw in her own. "(Let's go!)"

He chuckled sheepishly, though he was still smiling. "(Sure.)"

As she walked along, her paw still in Pikachu's, Buneary couldn't help but hum to herself. The song was tuneless and made up on the spot, but that didn't matter to her. Sure, she was still stuck in this maze, and she still had no idea where Dawn was, but it was okay. She was no longer miserable, because Pikachu was here.

Pikachu made everything brighter.

"(Hey,)" Pikachu whispered, "(I think Happiny's asleep.)"

Buneary looked over curiously, only to see that Happiny's eyes were closed and she was snoring softly. She smiled at the cute sight.

"(Aww, you're right,)" she whispered back. Reaching an ear over, she gently stroked Happiny's head. "(How cute~)"

"(Heh, yeah.)"

"(... She's not too heavy, is she? I tried carrying her before and, well...)"

"(Nah, she's fine. A little heavy, sure, but it's good training.)"

She beamed. Gosh, he was so cool.

After a moment, she paused in thought as she pulled her ear away. "(... I probably should've stopped to rest, after all, huh?)" Her ear dipped slightly. "(She was complaining about being tired, but I... just kept walking.)"

"(Yeah... but you were worried about us, right? You just wanted to find everybody and make sure we were safe. Not to mention, you're probably worried about Dawn and her application thing, right?)"

She nodded. "(Yeah.)" She beamed at him. "(I'm so glad I found you~)"

"(Heh. I'm glad I found you, too.)"

The duo had done a fair amount of walking, until they'd eventually stumbled upon an odd sight. Buneary looked up the set of stairs, which stretched above the maze walls, to what was sitting at the top of it.

"(... Is that a tree?)" she asked.

"(Yeah, it is!)" Pikachu replied enthusiastically. "(If we go up there, we might be easier to see! Or it might be easier to see others! How about we go up and wait for everyone?)"

She looked at him. "(Huh? Well, I guess so.)"

Happiny suddenly stirred. Her eyes fluttered open. She groaned a bit, then smacked her lips a few times.

"(Good nap,)" she said, smiling. "(Happy now!)"

Pikachu chuckled. "(That's good. Now come on, let's get up those stairs!)" He stared at the stairs. "(Um... though maybe you should hop down, Happiny, so I don't injure myself. Or you, by accident.)"

Happiny pouted. "(Aww...)"

Once they finally reached the top of the stairs, Buneary couldn't help but smile at what she saw. Not only was there a tree here, but there was grass, too. Grass that had lovely pink, white and purple flowers growing on it. Such a pretty place to stop and rest!

She sat down on the nice warm grass, and the other two did the same. As they did, Buneary looked around the maze below. No sign of the others yet. She couldn't help but wonder how long they would take. She hoped it wouldn't be too long.

... Then again, she was enjoying being with Pikachu, so maybe they could take their time, just a little bit.

"(... Do you think we won the race?)" Buneary asked in amusement.

"(Huh?)" Pikachu asked.

"(You know, the maze.)" She looked around. "(Looks like we're in the middle. Did we win?)"

"(Heh, I hope not. We came in here to get out the other side.)"

"(Ha, true that!)" She paused, her eyes widening in horrified realisation. "(... If there's no exit, we'll have to go through the cave again!)"

Pikachu laughed. "(Oh, good lord, no...)"

"(... Bored!)" Happiny said, pouting.

Pikachu looked around at the maze. "(Hmm, yeah,)" he replied, "(they're taking a while to find us, huh?)"

"(Yeah,)" Buneary agreed. She also looked around, but found nothing. "(Wonder where they are right now.)"

"(No clue.)"

"(Boooored!)" Happiny whined again.

Buneary heaved a sigh. In her bliss, she'd almost forgotten how much of a pain in the backside Happiny was being today. She really hoped the baby would grow out of this soon...

Pikachu scratched his head thoughtfully. "(Uh, I guess we could... play a game to pass the time, or something.)" He smiled. "(Maybe I-Spy?)" He looked around. "(Um... I spy with my little eye... something beginning with... 'm'?)"

Happiny blinked at him. She looked around, then back at him. "(... Maze?)"

Pikachu chuckled sheepishly. "(Yeahhhh, there's not much else to look at, is there?)"

Buneary giggled. He was such an adorable dork.

"(... Wanna play cooking!)" Happiny suddenly said, smiling.

Pikachu blinked at her. "(... Cooking?)"

"(Yeah! Cook like Brock!)" She looked around herself, then beamed when she saw the flowers. "(Need pan!)" She looked around some more. When she looked up at the tree leaves, she beamed again and stood up. With a mighty thump, she punched the tree. It wobbled to and fro, worrying Buneary somewhat, until a large leaf floated down from it. Happiny picked it up from the grass. "(Found pan!)"

Buneary watched in intrigue as Happiny wandered around the tree, plucking off flower heads and placing them on the leaf. Those poor flowers...

Eventually, Happiny sat back down again, looking pleased with herself. She held the leaf out for Pikachu. "(Eat!)"

Pikachu stared at her. Then he stared down at the leaf. "(... Eat?)" he asked.

"(Yeah! Eat!)"

"(Um...)" He smiled awkwardly. "(I prefer smelling flowers...)"

Well, Buneary couldn't really say she blamed him. She couldn't say she'd ever eaten flowers before, herself. Or felt any desire to. She liked them, sure, but not quite to that extent. She looked back at Happiny, only to see her pouting.

... Uh oh. Well, she didn't want another repeat of earlier. Especially since Happiny was finally behaving. She didn't really want to eat the flowers, either, but Happiny had 'cooked' this dish specially for them, so it was the polite thing to do, to keep her sated...

Argh, what to do...

Suddenly, it hit her. She beamed at her own genius.

"(Hey, Happiny,)" she said, "(I'll try your cooking!)"

Happiny turned a bright smile in her direction. "(You will?! You will?!)"

"(Yep~!)"

"(Hooray, hooray!)" She held out the leaf. "(Cooked it for you~!)"

Buneary took the leaf. "(Aww, thanks~)" She pretended to scoop up a flower and place it in her mouth. Then she pretended to chew and swallow. "(Delicious~!)"

"(Yay, yay!)

"(Let Pikachu try some, too!)" She handed back the leaf.

"(Okay~!)" Happiny held it out for Pikachu, who looked rather perplexed. "(Try~!)"

"(Uh, okay...)" he replied, taking the leaf. He stared at it. "(Um...)"

Buneary watched in slight concern. Hmm, he looked like he needed some help. Maybe she should step in, before he refused to eat them and upset Happiny.

"(Psst!)" she hissed as quietly as she could. She saw Pikachu's ears twitch. He glanced around. "(Psst!)" When he locked eyes with her, she mouthed the words 'just pretend'.

His eyes widened slightly in understanding.

"(... Eat?)" Happiny asked impatiently.

Pikachu looked back down at the flowers. With a very awkward smile, he swiped his paw across the flowers and appeared to put something in his mouth. One glance, however, told Buneary that he hadn't picked anything up.

Still looking awkward, he pretended to chew and swallow. "(Um... tasty!)" he said.

"(Yay, yay!)" Happiny cried happily. Standing up, she bounded up and down in joy. "(I did it! I'm a cook, like Brock!)"

Heh. When the baby was being like this, Buneary couldn't help but find her oddly adorable. She wished she'd be like this more often.

She smiled at her and Pikachu, feeling happiness swell up within her. With the way today had gone, the three of them almost felt like a family. Like a mother and father, looking after their baby.

... When she realised what she'd just thought to herself, she felt her face warm in embarrassment. It was tempting to pull her fluff over her face, but she resisted.

"Hey, everybody!" a voice suddenly called out from down below.

"(Huh?)" all three of them asked, turning to look down the stairs.

Buneary was surprised and delighted to see Brock, Aipom, Turtwig and Staravia at the bottom. Immediately afterwards, the four of them were joined by Dawn and Croagunk, who came running in from the side.

Buneary beamed. Finally, they'd been found!

... At the same time, it was a bit sad that their cute little picnic had to end now.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Sometime later, after the group had found Ash, Piplup, Pachirisu, Buizel and Sudowoodo, they'd defeated Team Rocket - who'd shown up to bother them - somehow made it out of the maze, and had gotten to the pokémon centre with only ten minutes to spare. How lucky!

Now they were in the forest, back en route to Hearthome City, and eating their dinner. Dawn's new pokétch application was called 'coin toss', and she'd been playing with it all evening.

"Alright, Ash..." Dawn said, her finger hovering over her pokétch, "heads, you let me dip my bread in your stew. Tails, I let you dip yours in mine!"

Brock gave her an exasperated smile. "Haven't you gotten tired of flipping that coin yet?" he asked.

Dawn grinned at him. "Not yet~!" She looked back at Ash. "Anyway, what do you say, Ash?"

"I say bring it on!" Ash replied with a determined smile.

Buneary giggled in amusement as she turned away. Oh, that quirky trainer of hers...

Sitting next to the rabbit was Pikachu, and opposite them was Happiny, all three of them with bowls full of pellets in front of them. It seemed they'd gravitated towards each other after the events in the maze, all subconsciously choosing to eat together. Not that Buneary minded, though.

"(... You know,)" she said, smiling, "(that 'picnic' we had before was nice, wasn't it?)"

Pikachu smiled back at her, though his smile looked a little bit sheepish. "(Yeah, it was pretty fun!)" he replied.

"(Yeah! Fun!)" Happiny agreed, beaming.

"(Maybe the three of us should do it again sometime,)" Buneary suggested.

Happiny waved her tiny arms in joy. "(Yeaaaah! Again, again!)"

Buneary lowered her voice to mutter in Pikachu's direction, a slight pout on her face. "(Though, hopefully, with less pretending this time...)"

A puff of amused air came from Pikachu's mouth, though he tried to cover it up. Clearing his throat, he kept his voice nice and level. "(Yeah, sounds good,)" he replied.

She beamed at him, already looking forward to it. "(Cool~)"

The End